Your gut feeling. (page 2)

kid-A

I believe there is an entirely separate level of processing going on in our minds all the time. All sensory information gets into the brain, we just filter out what we dont want to perceive consciously based upon our emotional state. When my 'gut' is telling me something, its usually in the opposite direction of what my conscious perceptions are telling me to do, and in retrospect, the 'gut' is usually correct, since its based on a deeper level of analysis, free of our emotional biases. I think the primary motivational force behind this is a basic survival instinct that needs to operate at all times, thus, most messages from the 'gut' are warnings and red-flags about people, situations, etc.

daystar

In order to be balanced, one must temper the emotional side (including instinct, gut feelings, art etc.) with the intellect. Neither is more valid than the other.

xjwms

I always go with my gut feeling.

BECAUSE, ... it works, ... everytime.

Balsam

I have to say I totally ignored my gut feeling when it came to getting baptized as a JW. I just felt that something wasn't right and was hidden from sight about JW that I could not see. Then I reasoned away my fears and basically trusted it 100% for 30 years. Yes that gut feeling would arouse my thinking occasionally but most the time I would push it away and drowned it out with JW speak.

Now I listen to my gut feelings and have lived a much happier life.

People need to learn to trust their gut feelings unless their gut feelings are all screwed up and mislead them. I've seen that happen to people too trusting their gut feelings and totally misjudging situations. Some people just do not have good intuitive abilities.

Balsam

Carmel

I ignored my intuition last year and invested ten grand in oil futures. My head said "yeah, yeah" and my gut said, "hope this isn't a scam".

Gut was right!

carm

Confession

I've examined this question for years. Although it's a tempting conclusion, I've decided the following policy is potentially dangerous...

Always follow your gut feeling !!!!!

1) The truth is, some of us are more in touch with our "gut" than others.

2) I think that many will dismiss from their minds "gut feelings" that don't pan out--and fixate on the ones that do.

My position? If a decision is relatively unimportant--or at least will have no obvious ramifications on others--go ahead, go with your gut. But if your decision may have great consequences for yourself--and especially others with whom you have relationships and to whom you have commitments...you had better make sure you use your head! Now, if after so doing, your head and your heart are equally balanced, then fine, go with your gut. But this concept of OBEYING your gut, while often proving fruitful, can also prove hazardous.

Have you ever heard someone say, "EVERY time I get in the shower, the phone rings"? This is probably not true. It's probably true that it *seems* that way. But when they get in the shower and it doesn't ring, will they make a mental note of it? Likely not. They usually only think of this so-called phenomenon when they are in the shower and it rings. Then every time it does, they use it to reinforce this claim--without factoring in all the times it didn't. Similarly, I have seen people easily dismiss the poor results of a decision that relied upon their "gut."

Am I suggesting you refuse to listen to it? Absolutely not! If your gut is telling you something, there often is a reason. Sometimes after examining it, you can figure out why you're feeling that way. Sometimes it has a bearing, sometimes it doesn't.

I submit that the key is LISTENING to your gut--but by no means simply OBEYING it.

BrendaCloutier

My gut sez I've had too many oatmeal cookies for breakfast this morning....

Since I was raised in the JWs I didn't get a 'gut reaction' for entering. I did however at the age of 7-13 have questions that I couldn't shake or shrug off. When I tried to get answers the response given was never satisfactory. My gut feeling was.. "hey, that doesn't seem right" . But being so young you are told you don't understand everything yet and will when you are older. I just ignored my gut feeling and kept plugging along with what my parents made me to.

Were you watching me as a kid? Wow, that's pretty much what I experienced. Then got baptized at 14. Nothing. Nothing goood. Nothing bad. Just ... Nothing. I wasn't allowed to even question! If I did, I was answered with standard JW rhetoric, but I was counseled by my mom or dad that I shouldn't even be asking questions because what I was being taught was the Truth(tm). So I stopped asking questions. I didn't learn to follow my gut feelings until after I got divorced finally from my first husband, and part of the process of "getting rid" of him was following my "gut". Today I follow my gut 'most of the time'. When I don't... I'm screwed! For 40 years it's been correct and early on I've either not been allowed to listen, or I've ignored it. The last 25 I've learned to trust myself... that I am trustworthy.

Every now and then, someone posts something that exposes their gut reaction to something, which could be completely opposite to a position previously taken, or taken immediately after posting it.

I wonder if he noticed this thread, or is just ignoring it. Hmm. I wonder if it's eating away at him.

Kwin

Your gut feeling.

kid-A

daystar

xjwms

Balsam

Carmel

Confession

BrendaCloutier

Es

jgnat

kwintestal

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